It is imperative when stretching new fence wire prior to fastening it to posts, or when joining opposite ends of strands of wire, such as when building a fence or repairing it, to utilize some type of a tightener for pulling each strand of wire to ensure the wires making up the fence will be sufficiently taut to effectively retain livestock. Various types of stretchers have been in use for many years, and it is possible to presently purchase stretchers basically of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,792,535, Feb. 17, 1931 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,832, Aug. 22, 1950, both of Greutman. Because of certain operating difficulties experienced with tighteners shown in the above patents, which are described in more detail below, there were developed stretchers which include a considerable more elaborate jack or carrier member, such as shown in later U.S. Pat. No. 2,937,851, May 24, 1960, Greutman et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,228, Jul. 23, 1974, Greutman. Stretchers of one or both of these patents have also experienced wide use. With the known types of stretchers, operating conditions are frequently encountered with which it is difficult to cope and which at times prove dangerous.
As is shown as being common to the embodiments of all four patents above, there is fixed at one end of a rigid notched bar or rack a wire clamp, and a jack portion or carrier, which includes a second wire clamp, is adapted to be ratcheted along the rack of the bar toward the fixed clamp. When this type of stretcher is being used to join opposed ends of two separate strands, which is common practice when rejoining the separate parts of a broken strand, one strand is held adjacent its end by the fixed clamp, and the other strand is held adjacent its end by the clamp of the carrier. Thus, the ends are brought together by the movement of the carrier towards the fixed clamp. However, often to fully tighten the strands of wire, the carrier must be moved so close to the fixed clamp that there is very limited room therebetween, such as only 4 to 6 inches, thus making it difficult, if not impossible, to properly join the ends of the two strands. If the proper connection cannot be made, it is the common practice to twist the wires into a temporary connection, so that the clamp of the carrier can be released to allow the carrier to be backed off along the rack or otherwise reset to a position where the clamp on the wire can be remade. The carrier can then be advanced again towards the fixed clamp to provide some extra lengths at ends which can be used to form a better permanent connection between the ends before releasing both the fixed clamp and the clamp of the carrier.
When new fence wire is being stretched to a post, it is usually necessary to temporarily join the end of the wire to the post more than once so as to allow the carrier to be moved back for resetting to the free end of the rack where it is reclamped to the wire and jacked to the opposite end again for further tightening of the strand of wire. Such setting and resetting of the carrier is required, possibly more than once, because with new wire it is not uncommon for the wire to stretch 3 to 5 feet.
It can be seen, therefore, that not only is the making of a temporary connection between the free ends of two strands of wire or the making of a temporary connection of one strand to the post time consuming, but occasionally the temporary connection does not prove sufficiently strong, and the breaking of the connection on release of the clamp of the carrier can be dangerous, not only to the operator of the device, but anyone standing in the vicinity of the tensioned strand.
In the embodiments of the stretchers shown in above-identified U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,937,851 and 3,825,228, as compared to the earlier designs, the carrier was modified to include more parts, including an additional pawl which allows the carrier to be released in a manner to allow it to be backed off at a slower rate. The modified structure is more complex and thus more costly to produce. Also while with careful use, it can reduce the possibility of a break of the connection sometimes caused by a fast release, it does not provide a solution to the problem of having to make one or more temporary connection of the strand held by the clamp of the carrier, so that strand can be released to reset the carrier. As indicated such reset is frequently carried out by backing the carrier from the fixed clamp when the strand is not sufficiently taut for making a permanent connection or when there is not sufficient room between the carrier in its final position and the fixed clamp to make a proper permanent connection. Moreover, users of the modified structure which includes the additional pawl have found that it is awkward and sometimes frustrating to get into a position so as to be able to conveniently use both hands at the carrier as is necessary to activate the extra pawl.